This could be a significant step forward in pushing Meta to make WhatsApp an essential utility in India.
Today, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology announced that Indian citizens will now be able to access various government documents through WhatsApp.
Bringing your important documents is now as easy as chatting with your friends on WhatsApp!
Enjoy #DizilCar Service through #MyGovHelpdesk. Send ‘Hi’ to 9013151515 on WhatsApp to access your insurance documents, PAN card, driving license etc. pic.twitter.com/pbSOnLmOE0
– MyGovIndia (mygovindia) May 23, 2022
Being integrated with it Dieselcar The Digital Documentation Initiative, the program will make WhatsApp a more important connector, in many more ways, which can help strengthen the quality of the app for Indian users.
WhatsApp is currently the most popular messaging platform in India 487 million users. And as India’s digital transformation takes shape, more and more people are becoming increasingly dependent on WhatsApp to stay connected, creating more options for meta bill payment, money exchange, shopping and more.
In many ways, Meta wants to replicate the way messaging apps are used in China, where WeChat has become an essential tool for many day-to-day interactions.
Indeed, in the wake of the Kovid outbreak, the significance of WeChat with Chinese citizens was again underlined. Both WeChat and / or Alipay require a barcode to show their health status To catch public transport or to travel to certain areas.
Chinese users regularly use their digital identity to manage virtually their daily transactions, including shopping, transportation, utility payments, banking, etc., through messaging apps.
Such as South China Morning Post:
“Many people outside of China have not yet heard of WeChat or think it is the equivalent of the country’s popular messaging service WhatsApp or social media giant Facebook. For many people in China, WeChat is too much – it’s not too much to say that it is an essential part of their daily lives.“
Meta has tried to replicate WeChat’s utility with Western users at various stages, starting with its push to integrate Messenger bots in 2016, adding games to increase usage, and roll out Facebook Pay (soon to be Meta Pay). In different markets.
These efforts have not seen Messenger extend beyond a messaging platform, which has stalled Meta’s efforts to monetize its messaging apps. But in India, where social media adoption is still evolving, it sees a significant opportunity to make messaging a more necessary element for the country. 1.4 billion citizens.
For comparison, the United States, the largest market in terms of revenue, has a population 332 million people.
So you can see why Meta is so keen to build a WhatsApp presence in the Indian market, which this integration will certainly help, as Meta is also rolling out new business tools, such as recurring notifications and WhatsApp cloud hosting, which are currently available for free, but ultimately paid for. Will turn into equipment.
India is where Meta wants to see the largest adoption of these functions, with each step further cementing the app as a core utility for the region.
Again, so far, Meta has not been able to effectively monetize WhatsApp, despite Paid অ্যাপ 19 billion for the app in 2014. This is the most powerful way to bring it to the required level for business interactions, which will help Meta to dominate another new market, as well as drive significant future revenue opportunities.